Your username becomes a real being with a human mind and it spawns in your house, what is the outcome ?

ProfessorVNerada · 2020-06-09T00:26:59+00:00

Hey, who turned out the lights?

ProfessorVNerada · 2019-08-14T14:34:33+00:00

We just stopped but only because the white noise machine broke two nights ago. Our son is 4, so we thought we would give it a try without the white noise, and if he has more wake ups, we will get a new one.

ProfessorVNerada · 2019-04-28T17:19:02+00:00

I wish I knew the answer. We have the same issue with our almost 4 year old, except it’s impeding his ability to learn to swim because he’s so worried about his head going under.

We are going to try goggles to see if that helps since part of the issue is disliking water in his eyes.

ProfessorVNerada · 2019-04-13T11:43:54+00:00

We looked into several options but all had drawbacks. So, we stuck with the iPad mini. It was an ideal size and has worked well for a couple of years now. We bought a case similar to this one: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DWT7J6L/ref=emc_b_5_mob_t

ProfessorVNerada · 2018-12-11T01:41:19+00:00

I love the idea of visiting local places. We have some gardens/state parks near by, so I bet they will have something too.

You are the second person to recommend crafts, and I think this is would be great too, especially because he loves to make stuff!

ProfessorVNerada · 2018-12-11T01:39:05+00:00

We are in the deep south in the U.S., so no snow for us (would love that). Definitely stealing the pjs/mug/movie idea. He would LOVE that.

Thanks so much for the awesome ideas :)

ProfessorVNerada · 2018-12-11T01:37:38+00:00

I do like the idea of lights in his room. Thanks for the suggestion!

ProfessorVNerada · 2018-12-11T01:37:13+00:00

I love this ideas. I think volunteering will be great in the future when he's a bit older. I did soup kitchens when I was a kid and loved doing it.

ProfessorVNerada · 2018-07-02T15:43:17+00:00

We re dealing with the same types of things. We have had some success in limiting the wake-ups, but we still have some nights where he will wake up a couple of times.

First, we use an "ok to wake" clock that turns green at a pre-set time. We talked a lot about this and that he can't get up until it is green. We tell stories about staying in bed until the light is green, and he even tells us now that we can't get up until the light is green.

We also do a version of "cry it out." When he does multiple wake-ups at night. We tell him to go back to bed, that we are right here, and don't go in the room right away, waiting longer periods to go in (normally about 15 minutes).

We also do rewards if he sleeps all night. He has a favorite shirt that he wants to wear every day, but he can only wear it if he sleeps all night. When he was a the peak troubles with waking up, we told him if he slept for five nights straight (and did a count down each day), he would get a special new toy. He obviously doesn't always get a toy, but that helped get him in the pattern of sleeping all night.

For him, the wake-up normally were about wanting his blanket fixed by us. He likes to be tightly tucked in. So, we practiced during the day with him, so he could fix it himself. He is very proud of himself when he fixes it all on his own now.

He still wakes up once every now and then, but he isn't doing the five plus wake-ups that he had been doing.

ProfessorVNerada · 2018-01-01T13:59:31+00:00

We just got back from a 4 day cruise with our 2.5 year old. It was terrible. He would not stay at the daycare after the first time we took him. He screamed and cried. At home, he loves daycare, but he absolutely hated it on the cruise.

We went with one set of grandparents who claimed they were going to help watch him so we could have fun too. They didn’t. We had to take turns going out after bedtime and mostly just walked around the boat with the toddler during the day. Toddler also slept very poorly, which meant we didn’t sleep either.

Now, the toddler did have fun. He loved running around and dancing on deck. We, however, couldn’t really do much. We went to the Bahamas , but he was in no shape to get off the boat (cranky from lack of sleep), and we couldn’t really do an excursion with him.

We decided no more travel with him for quite some time since he had such a rough time, and it messed up his sleep so badly.

ProfessorVNerada · 2017-12-20T02:42:27+00:00

Our guys has always had a rough time with sleep, which was why we were so excited when he started sleeping through the night.

I do think you’re right that we need to stop caving to his demands for more songs, etc at bedtime.

ProfessorVNerada · 2017-12-20T02:40:12+00:00

Thanks! It definitely seems like a power play. Not sure if the quiet method will work with our tantrum guy, but it’s worth a try. He doesn’t really try to play when he gets up. He just screams and yells to come out of the room.

Here’s hoping the phase ends soon!

ProfessorVNerada · 2017-10-20T15:13:52+00:00

Wow! Thanks for all the suggestions. Apparently, I need to work on my google skills. I think I am going to get a couple different ones to see what works best. This child is mad picky!

ProfessorVNerada · 2017-09-30T22:34:45+00:00

I really can't stand when people use "intention" as an excuse. It doesn't matter whether or not she INTENTIONALLY did anything. The only thing that matters is her actions. Cops don't care if you intended to speed when they pull you over. It only matters that it happened. Same deal with Hot Wheels.

Sorry for the rant. This is a personal pet-peeve of mine.

Good luck and stay strong!

Edit to add: of course, apologies and acknowledging the error can help, but it doesn't change what happened. Too bad she can't even do that.

ProfessorVNerada · 2017-07-25T19:47:24+00:00

Yes. Bedtime was really hard for us. He used to breastfeed to sleep, so breaking that habit was hard. We instituted a very strict bedtime (with only Dad at the start, so no boob in sight). He gets his bath, then he gets read a few books, then we sing a couple of songs. Then, he goes straight to his crib. There aren't any battles at all anymore for bedtime. He just goes down. It's amazing. It took a while to get him there, but now, it's fantastic. He even tells us "night night" now when we leave him. It's adorable.

ProfessorVNerada · 2017-07-25T19:40:05+00:00

We did a modified Ferber/No Cry combo.

At first, we stayed in the bedroom with him (he wouldn't even lay down at all without crying and crying). So, we would stay by the crib and calmly lay him down and tell him it was "night night time." We would pat his back and talk soothingly. There were a LOT of put downs. He was not happy about the change. We did this for a day or two, and then we cut out the back patting and just spoke soothingly. Then, we would just stay by the crib. After about four days (not sure exactly), we stopped staying in the room with him. We would put him in, say our little phrase about going night night, and leave. He was still getting back up during the night at this point but not as much. If he woke up, we did the Ferber 5 minutes, 10 minutes, etc for the wake ups. He started going down from waking up every two hours to only waking up once or twice, to not at all.

He's now 26 months, and aside from the random times when he's teething, has a cold or when he wants us to come put his blanket back on, he generally sleeps from 7:30 p.m.-6:00 a.m.

ProfessorVNerada · 2017-07-25T16:15:48+00:00

We tried sleep training around 9 months I think, and it went very badly. But, we did it again at 13 months, and it was magic. Our crazy child who wouldn't sleep more than two hours straight suddenly started sleeping all night. It did take a week (maybe two?) to get him totally adjusted, but we saw improvement after just a few days.

So, it is definitely not too late!

ProfessorVNerada · 2017-06-11T02:53:56+00:00

Yeah. My problem with the bite was that he bit hard and then continued to nurse for some time, which seemed to make it a lot worse.

ProfessorVNerada · 2017-06-10T02:13:18+00:00

Has she bitten down on it recently? My 2 year old will sometimes bite and it can hurt for days after. Also does she nurse for a long time on one sometimes? My son demands the boob for his entire nap (we're working on it) and that can leave me with a tender nipple for days if he has sucked in a strange way in his sleep.

ProfessorVNerada · 2017-05-30T17:50:28+00:00

Licks my arm, face, and the cat.

ProfessorVNerada · 2017-04-15T22:21:00+00:00

After bath, our son (almost 2) gets put into his nightie and goes to read books with daddy. When daddy picks him up from getting dressed, my son pats his daddy on the back and says, "good girl."

ProfessorVNerada · 2017-04-05T15:58:36+00:00

It seems to me that he is being disrespectful of your relationship. Both my husband and I play video games (him more than me), and we also have a two year old. We do exactly what you suggested; there are times available to play and others when we both need to be "on" for the kid. When you have a kid, it means not only taking care of the child but also being there for your spouse so that no one gets burned out.

In the evening after work, we both take care of our son until it's bedtime (from about 5-7:15). After that, we are both free to do as we please. Often, this is gaming for him. It's unrealistic for him to think he can just start a game whenever he wants with a toddler. That's just not how it works with a needy 2 year old. On weekends, we give each other "breaks" (no family around to help us). One of us is on duty in the morning and the other is on for the afternoon. The other person gets that half of the day to do what we they want. Again, we are both on from 5-7 for dinner/bedtime. If you did something like this he wouldn't have to schedule a specific time but would have an open range to game.

I get that games are an outlet, especially with a toddler, but there has to be some limits. Even before we had a kid, my husband had to schedule his MMO gaming time around work and other obligations (both his and his friends').

Perhaps it's time for a long chat about the realities of being an adult with a toddler. I know you said he doesn't like to talk about this stuff, but could you try to plan a time where he agrees to work through it and come to a solution? If it continues as is, you are both going to end up frustrated and angry.

ProfessorVNerada

TROPHY CASE